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is being performed. There is a school of thought today that says: Oh, but we must not
deceive the audience into thinking we can work miracles; that wouldn t be fair. We must
admit that it s all done by trickery, and that we know how to do it while they don t. Did
Houdini ever tell his audience that he was performing a trick? Only on the occasions when
he is alleged to have sought the Monday night audience s help by giving him information
about the Tuesday audience. Apart from that, not one person in a thousand had the slightest
clue about Houdini s mysteries.
64
Section Three SUBTLETIES
I have never yet seen Kuda Bux use a trick as we know it in his blindfold act, superb sleight
of hand expert though he is. The result is that Kuda Bux s audiences talk about his act long
after they have forgotten the jolly conjurer who found a rabbit in the rector s pocket.
As far as I m concerned, the thing to do is to baffle the audience completely, and it s good
to know that some magicians do believe in that principle. I cannot imagine Peter Warlock
hinting that his profound mysteries were anything in the nature of a trick. The performer
who puts across the blindfold act well will leave his audience debating learnedly on highly
trained psychology, sensitive finger tips, or that article they read in Reader s Digest on
extra-sensory perception. But rarely will they leave the hall comparing his act with that of the
other magicians they have seen. It should be something quite different from a conjuring act.
Those are my views, at any rate, and I hold them most strongly, while nevertheless accepting
and admiring the showmanship and entertainment potentialities of the other school.
Another vital point is the manner in which the performer describes his act to the audience.
It is impossible to avoid making reference to seeing, but the reference should only be
made negatively. For example it would be permissible to point out that when blindfolded
one cannot see, but it would never do to announce that the performer could see, despite
the blindfold. Rather should the words sense or visualise be used for what happens after
the blindfold is on.
Similarly, when goggles are being worn instead of a blindfold, the word glass should be
avoided, unless, perhaps, to announce that the glass of the goggles has been replaced
by, say, opaque plastic plates or discs of metal. The opaque nature of the lenses must be
stressed all the time. Discs of metal has an opaque sound, whereas black glass has the
fatal word glass in it, and glass has always been something we can see through.
A good showman with a strong personality might be able to get away with describing
the lenses of the goggles as being made of A type of glass used in X-ray practice, and
consequently photographically safe to all rays of light. If this is done, the goggles must be
given out for inspection and trial, to prove his words.
Both in the case of goggles and the more usual type of blindfold it might be good to
mention infra-red rays and infra-red photographic methods, which can function in total
darkness. At least, there wouldn t be many in the audience who would be able to correct
the performer by telling him that infra-red rays were better known as heat rays and could
convey nothing visible to the human eye. If the infra-red patter is used, it should be read
up first in a photographic or scientific book. Nothing sounds worse than a man talking about
something he obviously knows nothing about.
65
Sealed Vision The X-Ray Eye Act
Because of the possibility of reminding the audience-many of them have played blind man s
buff, as children, remember-that a peep down the nose is possible, a plain blindfold should
never be followed by a more elaborate one in the same performance. And conversely, having
used a more elaborate blindfold, the performer should never abandon it for a simpler one
during the show. If he can see through one, he can see through the other, the audience
will argue, so why should he change in mid-programme? He really can see through one
of them, the crafty beasts will rejoice. For a magician to vary his methods too much in
one programme is as good a way as any of putting the audience on the track of one at
least of his secrets.
At all times when he is not needing to see, the performer should keep his eyes closed,
and even when he does need to see, and has occasion to walk about, he should do so
hesitantly, as though he could not see. Sometimes, something may happen within his range
of vision, which will cause him to alter his plans. An assistant might unwittingly move a
chair, for instance. In this case, the performer should not appear to know that the chair
had been moved.
66
Section Four PUBLICITY AND PROGRAMME IDEAS
Section Four
PUBLICITY AND PROGRAMME IDEAS
HE PURPOSE of this book is not so much to describe a number of tricks that can be
performed while blindfolded, as to outline the method of seeing so that tricks can
Tbe presented. For that reason I do not propose to describe in detail the effects that
follow. I have appended a list of suggested effects that seem to me to lend themselves well
to a blindfold act, and have quoted the sources where these can be found.
The books quoted are in the possession of the majority of magicians, so that the performer
can easily look them up.
THE BLINDFOLD DRIVE
Very little seems to have been written on the Blindfold Drive, so I give a few hints that I have
found useful. Some police forces will not allow a blindfold drive on the roads in their area-I
believe the (London) Metropolitan Police Force is one that forbids it. So the performer should
make sure of this before he starts to break the law. It may be found that it is permissible to
do the drive on private ground, such as at a garden party.
The car to be driven, if not the performer s own should be carefully checked over and driven
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